Change of opinion
by Ludwisia
Summary: Ellen Tigh muses over Laura Roslin during the last scenes from the series.


_A/N:_

_It's my first finished attempt at BSG and it is something that was wanting to get out of my head for quite some time. I think the inspiration came to me for the first time when I saw the scene on the flight deck in Daybreak._

_I hope I didn't mess this beautiful story and I hope it's good to read._

At the begining I absolutely hated the woman. She was a typical teacher with her high morals and standards, her softness and her political look. My gods, those awful suits and heels… And the legs. Maybe the legs and hair was what bothered me most since she was frequently around Saul. Maybe I was unsure if he wouldn't turn and try the schoolteacher. This phase ended around the time of Kobol, when it became clear there was only one man who would have a chance. And they were both too busy for any romance to happen. After her cure I just didn't like her.

When she came down to New Caprica with the rest of us mortals she wasn't the most popular person but managed to keep in the company of her supporters. She started the school and proved to be a good and liked teacher. Even those who didn't vote for her in the election started to warm up to her. When the harsh winter came and the current administration was more than harsh towards her. With her requests for supplies denied even when others' similar were granted she wouldn't have survived, much less been able to successfully teach. But people provided and she did it. Tory and Maya were almost always by her side and looking at Laura Roslin with a baby Isis made me wonder why this woman was not a mother since she obviously loved children and took every opportunity to take care of them. About then the rumors have started. Rumors about a romance between Roslin and the Admiral. That was he allowed to come planet side Laura Roslin wouldn't be spending nights in the school building which was much warmer than her own, worn tent, where the wind and the rain had a free access.

When the Cylons came people very quickly gathered around her. Saul had to include her in all the decisions because people just looked up to her. With everything. She was the one who managed to lead the fleet so far and she was the one who opposed the settlement as well as predicted their enemy could find them here. I met another Laura Roslin then. She was tough, had an ice water in her veins sometimes, like Saul used to say. She was taken to detention several times during the occupation and revealed nothing from the vast information she possessed. This soft woman fared through torture much better than a lot of hardened soldiers. The last time she was taken was relatively delicate but previous two encounters with the detention centre left her in the infirmary for weeks each. And then I died.

As a Cylon I felt her contempt and hate and surprisingly, for the first time, I knew she had her reasons and partly agreed with her. But there was something different about her. She was thinner, just like on New Caprica, her hair looked strange and she seemed to be always tired. Very quickly I knew she was dying. Again. This time going through treatment but still closer to death than life. This time, also, there would be no miraculous cure for this cancer and everyone seemed to somehow know that. I watched as she thinned away, lost her strength little more each day. The relationship between her and Bill seemed no news to Saul so this must have been going for some time. Of course I knew there was something even on New Caprica. They were closer. But after the fiasco that was Earth they hardly seemed like they were going to be apart.

She lost her faith, her spirit and her direction. The only way she was getting it all back was to shake her. And Tom frakking Zarek managed to do just that. He seriously underestimated her. Hell hath no fury like Laura Roslin when she was told Admiral was dead. She had her spirit back. By then, however, it was too late for her body to catch up to her spirit so she withered away still.

The rescue mission for Hera was a blur for all of us. I knew she was out there in the middle, on Galactica. Her visible declaration, her decision to stay was what changed the unchanged hearts. She has lived for the fleet since the attacks and she was prepared to die for it too. Because being on this rescue mission meant finding what was the true future of both human and cylon. IT was hard on Bill but I think it was what kept him going.

After we jumped here, to this solar system, to a space above this blue planet they were inseparable until Bill escorted her to the sickbay and left in Ishay's hands. He had, after all a duty to manage all that was happening with the fleet. Lee helped, and Saul was there, but the brunt of responsibility still did lay on him. He insisted on leaving the Old Girl as the last, in a Viper since the last Raptor left with The President. Old and the acting since Lee was the only one trusted to get Laura to the surface. Jack Cottle with Ishay took care of Laura during the transport down and until the Admiral was down with her. During the short moments Laura stayed with only Layne as her companion but it wasn't long until the situation calmed and people started to come and pay their respects. When Saul took me to them, Laura and Bill, sitting under some makeshift tarp in the grass, I noticed a red blanket I've never seen before. They told me it was a gift from one of the visitors. It would make Laura warm. Or warmer, I deducted. She was wrapped in it tightly, but still shivering even though it was warm enough for most to show some bare skin. And was dying. She was granted this one favor from the gods – she was able to feel the new land she led us to before she die.

People left the alone at last but nobody really went far. Everyone knew she will die that day, Cottle made it clear there was a pretty close time limit there. So everybody waited to be there. Some out of curiosity, yes, but some from sheer will to honor her. By then everyone was aware that it was her who influenced Adama to gather them all and flee instead of fight. And everyone knew she was a civilian leader of the resistance on the hellhole of New Caprica.

All of those people were not going to see the dead leader. Adama took one of the still functioning Raprots and took off taking Roslin with him. She will die in peace, far from the worries of the colonists.

Saul saw how Bill was carrying her and how he flew away. He hugged me closer.

"He loves her." He said. "He finally found his place."

I knew he was not talking only about Bill and Laura. We've found love and our place too. And it was thanks to the woman I once despised and underestimated. We both did.

THE END


End file.
